


To Hear Your Voice

by Darkangel19881



Category: Naruto
Genre: Attempted Suicide, Cancer, F/M, M/M, Shounen-ai, Torture, Tragedy, Yaoi, deafness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-20 07:17:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12427686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkangel19881/pseuds/Darkangel19881
Summary: One night Naruto is taken from his apartment, and tortured. when he is found is broken and scarred. Sasuke decides to stay with him while Naruto recovers after the blonde attempts suicide when Naruto confesses to something that has the potential to ruin their friendship. Can Sasuke come to terms with his feelings before Naruto is lost forever?.





	1. Chapter 1

To Hear Your Voice  
Chapter one

Naruto wasn’t sure sure how long he had been hanging there, had no idea what the enemy ninja planned to do to him. He did know that the shackles that literally left him hanging in the air from the ceiling, were a little too tight around his wrists, he could barely feel his hands as they had started to go numb. Naruto really wished he could force chakra into his wrists to break the shackles but unfortunately the shackles were slowly draining his chakra and if he even tried to use his chakra it was drained that much quicker, which meant that someone believed him to be a threat, and if he was ever let go he would prove just how right they were. He wondered how long it would take for someone to even realize that he was missing, since he had been taken from his own apartment?  
“What are you two planning on doing?” Naruto asked, once Kakashi-Sensei had declared that training was over for the day.  
“Sasuke and I have a date.” Sakura informed him “and it’s only going to be the two of us this time. We can’t have you coming on all of our dates.”   
“Maybe I have a date.” Naruto said frowning at Sakura, he was used to his pink haired teammate being annoyed with him. It was never hard for him to annoy either of his teammates. He seemed to do just that by breathing anymore.   
“You have a date?” Sakura asked. “With who? Iruka doesn’t count.” Naruto winced and raised his hand to scratch at the back of his head. In reality Iruka would be the one that he was having dinner with that night.  
“Dobe, I think I will die of shock if you did actually have a date. Who in Konoha would want to date someone as loud and annoying as you.” Sasuke said speaking up for the first time. “We are going to be late if we don’t hurry.” He told Sakura.   
“I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow at training then.” Naruto mumbled watching as Sasuke grabbed Sakura’s hand and started walking away. He didn’t know why but the fact that his two teammates were dating bothered him, and he didn’t understand it. Feeling rejected, Naruto stuffed his hands into his pants pocket and started towards Iruka’s house. Iruka was good company, he always knew what to say to cheer Naruto up. Naruto frowned as he approached Iruka’s apartment door just as the brown haired chunin was coming out of his door.  
“I’m sorry Naruto, I’m going to have to cancel tonight. I had an emergency come up. I promise to make it up to you.” Iruka said sounding hurried.  
“Sure,” Naruto mumbled, feeling even more rejected. Even his favorite person didn’t have time for him. “Just let me know when, it’s not like I’ll be all that busy.” Naruto said as he turned and headed back down the street towards his apartment. Iruka stood still staring after him, frowning for a moment before heading towards the ninja academy.  
Naruto let himself into his apartment, sighing as he pulled his shoes off his feet and went and flopped down on his bed. He sighed, not feeling like getting anything to eat, instead he was just ready for the day to end. Naruto had ended drifting off to sleep, unaware of the root agents that were on their way to his apartment, he only woke up when he felt a needle being injected into his skins and a hood being placed over his head, before he was unconscious. He woke up in a dark cellar, with next to no light and having his wrists shackled to the ceiling in an uncomfortable position.  
“What the hell are you waiting for?” Naruto yelled, straining to hear some kind of sound in the pitch blackness that surrounded him. He didn’t know exactly where he was, other than that he was stuck in a cell that had no light and shackles that kept him hanging miserably by his wrists. Naruto figured that this was some kind of torture that they wanted him to withstand, why he didn’t know.   
“My teammates are going to find me.” Naruto hissed under his breath, sensing the chakra of another’s presence hiding in the dark, away from Naruto’s eyes. “You’ll be sorry that you took me away from them.”  
“Yeah, right.” the voice which somehow sounded evil to Naruto’s ears laughed. “Your teammates can barely tolerate you and your Sensei is more interested in training the Uchiha than you or the pink haired bitch.”  
“Watch your mouth.” Naruto growling, not liking the insults to his teammates. No one got to mess with them unless it was Naruto himself, and even then there were certain lines that he didn’t cross when teasing his teammates.   
“Why should I? they treat you worse than anyone else and yet you still try to protect them? Why protect garbage?” the man asked as he stepped out of the darkness, the torch he carried illuminating his snake like features.   
“They are not garbage!” Naruto said glaring at the man, wishing that his feet were free from the shackles so that he could kick the man in his face. He would teach him to talk about his teammates like that. Naruto glared at the man, wondering how the man had somehow managed to block the nine tails chakra. He could really use it right about then.   
“My you are angry,” the man said laughing, his voice coming out in a soft hiss, much like a snake hissed. “There is no need for such anger. By the time they find you, you won’t be worth much as a ninja.”   
“Who the hell are you?” Naruto asked, twisting and pulling his hands, hoping that he would somehow be able to pull them out of the shackles.  
“You can stop fighting. You won’t be getting loose until I’m ready to hand you back to Konoha.”  
“Lord Hokage is going to have your head for this!” Naruto said narrowing his blue eyes in anger at the man. “he won’t allow you to get by with this.”  
“Too bad it was an elder of the village that asked me to permanently remove you from the ninja roster.” the man said as his hands flew through some hands signs before he placed his hands on Naruto’s chest, knocking the Jinchuuriki unconscious. While Danzo’s actions hadn’t exactly been sanctioned by the current Hokage Orochimaru knew that deep down the Hokage didn’t want to let Naruto leave the village because of the danger of his being a Jinchuuriki presented. Well, Orochimaru would put an end to the ninja’s career and then return him to Konoha, broken beyond repair and Orochimaru would have fun doing it. Reaching up, he unlocked Naruto’s hands and tossed the unconscious body over his shoulder before taking him to another room, one that was well lit.  
Dropping the unconscious blonde on the stone table, Orochimaru placed chakra restraints on his wrists and ankles. He would have fun with this.   
“Kabuto is the formula ready?” Orochimaru called to his medic who was standing in a corner of the room, filling a syringe with a blue liquid. While the poison wasn’t life threatening it would cause an indescribable amount of pain, Orochimaru wasn’t completely sure of the side effects which is why he wanted Naruto as a test subject.   
“Just about.” Kabuto replied as he filled another syringe before crossing the room to stand beside his master.  
“Are you sure that it won’t cause death?” Orochimaru asked. “Danzo didn’t want the boy to die only to be rendered useless as a ninja.”  
“I’m sure that it won’t cause death, I’ve tested it on a few animals.” Kabuto replied. “I believe it is ready to be tested on humans.”  
“He’s a Jinchuuriki” Orochimaru muttered. “he can hardly be called human.”  
“Be that as it may, it won’t kill him, it could cause internal damage, but nothing that I won’t be able to fix.” Kabuto assured. In fact the liquid had almost always caused a heart attack in the animals, but that kind of damage was easy enough for Kabuto to fix. There were a few other problems to, as the liquid appeared to be a cancer causing agent, Kabuto figured that the Nine Tails demon would be able to clean that out of Naruto’s system should he start developing any sign of cancer.  
“You may proceed then.” Orochimaru states watching, silently as Kabuto walks forward and inserts the needle into the crook of Naruto’s arm, after the syringe was emptied they only had to wait a few minutes before the pain began coursing through the blonde ninja’s body.   
Although Naruto was barely conscious, he could feel the pain flooding his senses, and he is unable to hold back the earth shattering scream as the pain increases in intensity. Sweat breaks forth on Naruto’s forehead and he fights against the restraints, wanting nothing more than for the pain to end.   
The longer the pain courses through his body, the more Naruto’s chest aches and he realizes just how serious his situation is, even as he fights to remain conscious as the effects from the poison slowly ease off, leaving his chest heaving, and aching. Naruto closed his eyes, trying to gather his strength, he was going to have to somehow save himself if he was going to live.   
“Unless you want your heart to explode, I would suggest that you be still.” a cold voice said from beside Naruto, causing the blonde to open his eyes and glare at the silver haired man beside him.  
“I’m going to kill you as soon as I am free from the bonds.” Naruto hissed, wishing he could be free from the pain that coursing through his chest.  
“Not if you want to drop dead.” Kabuto replied. “Because right now your heart is overworking itself trying to ease the pain that you just went through. If you don’t calm down, and keep stressing yourself out your heart is going to quit on you and I won’t be able to heal you.”  
“Why would you heal someone only to torture them some more.” Naruto snarled, panting hard unable to stop the anger from coursing through him. He hadn’t deserved to serve as their guinea pig. And he most certainly didn’t want to experience that drug again. He fought harder as he felt Kabuto’s cool, healing chakra flood him, healing the damage the poison had done.  
“Blame this on your village because it’s their fault you are here.” Kabuto replied.  
“I can’t hate them.” Naruto squeaked as Kabuto inserted another syringe full of liquid into his blood stream once he’d finished healing Naruto. “Besides if the Lord Hokage knew that this was going on, he would be putting an end to it and to you.” Kabuto snorted.  
“That man is the weakest man to ever rule Konoha. He couldn’t stop us if he wanted to.” Kabuto smirked as he watched the agony begin to flood Naruto’s features again.   
“You need to extend the amount of time that the poison lasts.” Orochimaru said. “It didn’t last long at all.”   
“Of course if we give him too much it will kill him, Jinchuuriki or not.” Kabuto said. “But I will work on it.”  
Suddenly unable to deal with the onslaught of agony, Naruto’s body began thrashing on the table, his head slamming roughly into the stone table over and over again. Both Orochimaru and Kabuto stood by watching as the violent seizure played itself out, neither making a move to see what kind of damage the seizure had caused the body on the table finally stopped twitching and his body was once again left still.  
“Check him over and then dump him somewhere close to where his teammates will be.” Orochimaru said. “But don’t heal him, I want Konoha’s crappy medics to attempt to heal him.” Kabuto nodded and ran his hands over the boy’s body checking for damage, and healing the badly damaged heart enough that it wouldn’t give out on him as soon as he got to his feet. As his hand ran over Naruto’s head, Kabuto noticed the bleed on Naruto’s brain but chose to follow Orochimaru’s orders and didn’t heal it.  
“One more thing.” Orochimaru said watching as Kabuto finished looking Naruto over. “Make sure that Naruto does not have access to the fox’s healing, and since we really don’t want him to go back to work as a ninja, damage his chakra points to the point that they can’t be fixed.” Kabuto nodded. The Hyuuga would be useful for that, but Kabuto knew how to damage the chakra points just as effectively.  
“Sorry, kid looks like your time as a ninja is over.” Kabuto muttered as he went through the process of damaging each chakra point, and adjusting the seal that would keep Naruto from getting access to the nine tails chakra.   
When he was finished, Kabuto undone the restraints and tossed the unconscious kid over his shoulders and left the hideout that was fairly close to Konoha’s gates. Sighing, Kabuto lowered Naruto’s unconscious form to the ground and placed him against a tree. It wouldn’t take long for them to find him here in the park where they normally meet. Kabuto kind of liked the idea of Naruto’s teammates not knowing what had happened to the boy while he wasn’t with them. He doubted anybody even knew that Naruto had been kidnapped the previous night, they would no doubt be confused about Naruto’s current condition. Kabuto smirked, he had witnessed how badly they had treated Naruto the night he’d disappeared, they should have kept Naruto away longer but Orochimaru had accomplished what he’d set out to do so there was no longer any need to keep him. Now they would watch the effects of their cruel plan, and Kabuto couldn’t wait. Not only for the damage of Naruto’s condition to be reveled but that they had allowed a missing nin inside their village to cause that kind of damage. It would start making people wonder about the security of the village and make them start to distrust their Hokage. Yes, Orochimaru and Danzo working together was a good idea. He couldn’t wait to see what else would result from their plans. The fall of Konoha would soon be coming.

I hope you enjoy, chapter 2 will be up soon. Liz


	2. Chapter 2

To Hear Your Voice  
Chapter 2 

Sasuke woke up early the next morning, his thoughts preoccupied on training and Naruto. Naruto had acted more depressed than he usually did after their training ended for the day. Sasuke couldn’t but wonder if Naruto was bothered by his dating Sakura. Sasuke had asked Naruto his opinion the blonde had seemed okay with it, despite Naruto’s own crush on their pink haired teammate. Something had obviously been bothering Naruto when Sakura had more or less told Naruto to go away so that Sakura and Sasuke could spend some time together.  
Sighing, Sasuke wondered into his bathroom and over to the shower. He was curious about what could be bothering Naruto so much, he doubted that Sakura’s words effected Naruto that much, nor did Sasuke’s own, which he supposed was perhaps more cruel than necessary.   
“I guess I’ll have to make it up to the Dobe.” Sasuke muttered as he stepped into the running water, enjoying the feel of it running down his back. “I probably was more of a jerk than I should have been.” Sasuke muttered quickly soaping up. He supposed he would go and see if Naruto wanted to get a little training in together before their actual training began. Sasuke knew that training was probably the only thing that Naruto liked more than ramen, Kami knows that Sasuke wasn’t about to eat any of those noodles no matter how much Naruto liked them. 

Stepping out the of the shower, Sasuke wrapped a towel around his waist and headed back into his bedroom, where he proceeded to dry off and dress in his usual white shorts and black shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back of it. When he finished dressing, he sat down on his bed and pulled his shoes onto his feet.   
Heading out of his house, Sasuke started towards Naruto’s apartment to see if he wanted to get some training in before Kakashi and Sakura arrived at the training grounds. As he walked, Sasuke allowed his thoughts to run away with him. He still wanted to kill his brother for what had been done to their family, but the more time he spent with Sakura and Naruto the less important that that plan felt. Sighing, Sasuke wondered if his family would be ashamed of him wanting to give up on getting vengeance for their deaths? Was it okay for him to live a normal life while they could no longer live theirs? Sasuke didn’t think he’d ever felt so confused in his life. He didn’t know what to do, he wanted Itachi to pay for what he done, but at the same time Sasuke was really starting to enjoy the friendships that were building with his teammates.   
Before Sasuke realized it, he was standing in front of Naruto’s apartment door knocking. When he didn’t receive an answer, Sasuke reached down and turned the knob with one hand, while gently pushing the door open with his other hand. Stepping inside the apartment, Sasuke winced at the smell the filled his nostrils, trash littered the floor, along with dirty laundry. Sasuke couldn’t help but wonder if Naruto ever bothered cleaning his apartment, but looking around at the filth covered surfaces, Sasuke decided that if Naruto did clean it wasn’t very often.

“Where the hell are you?” Sasuke asked as wondered from the kitchen into Naruto’s bedroom, to find that Naruto’s bed didn’t even look like it had been slept in, and if it had, it hadn’t been for long. Sasuke frowned as he left Naruto’s apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him. Where could the Blonde boy have gone too? Sasuke wondered. He knew that Naruto was meeting Iruka yesterday so maybe Naruto had stayed over with their former Sensei. His mind made up, Sasuke headed towards Iruka’s apartment, with his hands in his pockets. He really hoped he found Naruto because searching the entire village for him wasn’t an option.

When he reached Iruka’s apartment, he found Iruka already locking his door behind him.  
“Hello Sasuke. What can I do for you?” Iruka asked, turning around to find the Uchiha approaching him.  
“Have you seen Naruto?” Sasuke asked, wasting no time in getting to the point. Iruka frowned at him. “You were supposed to have dinner with him yesterday?” Sasuke added.  
“Unfortunately, I had to cancel.” Iruka said. “I figured Naruto would have gone home. Did you check his apartment?”  
“That was the first place I checked. It didn’t look like he had been there for long last night.” Sasuke said frowning. If Iruka didn’t know where Naruto was, then did that mean that something had happened to Naruto?  
“Did you try the training grounds?” Iruka asked, concern filling his voice. It wasn’t like Naruto to just disappear, perhaps this was one of his pranks? Maybe this was Naruto’s way of getting even with Iruka for disappointing him the night before?  
“That’s where I was heading next.” Sasuke said. “But I figured you of all people would have seen him. He’s obsessed with you.”  
“I’m pretty crazy about him too.” Iruka murmured, feeling bad for having bailed on Naruto when it was clear that he’d needed someone to talk too. “I’ll come with you, just to make sure he’s okay if you do find him at the training grounds.” Iruka added and Sasuke nodded. They walked in silence on the way to the training grounds, each lost in their own thoughts. Iruka worried that he had done something to drive Naruto out of the village. Iruka didn’t think that that was the case, but with someone like Naruto who kept their depression hidden, there was really no way of knowing.

As they approached the training field, Iruka’s heart sunk when there was no boy in a bright orange jacket hard at work.  
“I thought for sure this would be where he was.” Iruka murmured, worry filling his voice. “Where else could he be if he’s not at his apartment or eating ramen?”  
A slow movement suddenly caught Iruka’s attention and he started towards the tree. A low moan sounded, and a feeling of dread filled Iruka’s heart the closer he got to the tree. When he reached the tree, Iruka’s heart broke as he knelt down next to a barely conscious Naruto, who looked like he’d been through hell. 

“What happened to you?” Iruka asked a he reached out and touched Naruto’s cheek, freezing when he felt how cool Naruto’s skin was.

“Naruto?” Iruka said softly, leaning forward to get a closer look at the injured Nin. Naruto’s skin was pale, and freezing to the touch informing Iruka that Naruto had been here for a while. What bothered him more than that was the blood slowly dripping my Naruto’s ears and the way the barely conscious teen wouldn’t even acknowledge that he heard whatever Iruka was telling him.

“Go get Kakashi and have him meet me at the hospital.” Iruka told Sasuke. “I’m going to get Naruto there myself.”

“What happened to him?” Sasuke asked, shocked at the condition that his teammate was in. How had he ended up like this? He had been just fine when they had parted the night before.

“I don’t know.” Iruka said, “but it’s not good.” Iruka stood and lifted Naruto into his arm, the blonde wincing as he was picked up but otherwise gave no indication of what he was feeling. 

“He’s bleeding!” Sasuke exclaimed, seeing red that was slowly covering the lower half of Naruto’s head. Iruka gently leaned Naruto’s head forward and winced at the sight of the blood covering Naruto’s hair. 

“He must have some kind of head injury.” Iruka murmured. “Hurry and go get Kakashi, he needs to know that something has happened to Naruto.” Sasuke nodded, glancing at Naruto worriedly once more before taking towards his team leader’s apartment.   
Meanwhile, Iruka raced with a now unconscious Naruto towards the hospital. He was confused as all hell because Naruto had been fine when they had parted. Who had done this to Naruto? Why? Hadn’t Naruto already suffered enough for a change? 

“Hang on Naruto, I’m going to get you some help.” Iruka paused for a moment and sat Naruto down on the ground while he pulled out of his vest and wrapped Naruto in it. Naruto must have been out out on the training grounds all night, he was just that cold. Iruka suspected Naruto had other injuries that couldn’t be seen, injuries that could potentially be life threatening for him. Which made Iruka wonder why the nine tailed demon wasn’t working on whatever was going on with Naruto? Was that the reason he was in this condition to begin with? Had someone found a way to kill the demon and the host as well? Iruka hoped not, he hoped that Naruto would be able to be healed.   
Several minutes later, Iruka arrived at Konoha General, Naruto was still unconscious as Iruka placed him on a gurney, quickly explaining to the best of his ability about what had happened. How he had been found, freezing and barely conscious against a tree in the training ground, how Naruto hadn’t responded to anything that Iruka had asked him, and that he had blood covering the lower half of the back of his head. 

“Please make be okay!” Iruka pleaded. Watching as the nurses disappeared with Naruto, as he stood there watching until he could no longer see the blonde boy. Iruka didn’t know what had happened to Naruto but Iruka would find whomever was responsible and make them pay. Or at least he liked to think that he would be able too, when it came to fighting Iruka wasn’t that strong. 

Sighing, Iruka found himself staring at his hands in the hospital waiting room. Thoughts of how he could have kept this from happening in the first place, kept running through his head. Maybe if he hadn’t gone to that meeting that had turned out to be less important than the person had made it out to be, and had gone out with Naruto to dinner. Maybe Naruto could have somehow kept Naruto safe, kept him out of harms way.  
Suddenly worried voices filled his ears and he looked up to find Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura standing before him. 

“How is he?” Kakashi asked, sitting down beside Iruka.

“I don’t know.” Iruka replied. “I haven’t been told anything. We found him sitting against a tree in the training field. He was freezing and barely conscious, and it looks like he might have some kind of head injury, he wouldn’t respond to anything I asked him.”

“How could he have ended up in this condition?” Kakashi wondered. “Naruto is smart enough to get in out of the cold. He wouldn’t have waited out there all night long.”

“I know this is a long shot.” Sasuke said. “But is it possible that Naruto could have been kidnapped?”

“But then why return him and no demands be asked of the village?” Iruka asked. “It doesn’t make sense to take him and then to return him with as little injuries as he had.”  
“For all you know they could have messed him up on the inside and then left him to die.” Sasuke muttered although he knew that his idea sounded crazy. Why kidnap someone then make no demands? Unless ransom hadn’t been their intention from the start. The village had nothing to offer them, only Naruto. Which probably meant that they were after the nine tailed demon, but since they couldn’t get to it they returned Naruto, who had been physically weakened by the experience. That theory didn’t make much more sense to Sasuke either and he frowned. He wondered how long it would take for any of them to find out what had actually happened to Naruto.

Thanks for reading and reviewing. Hope you enjoyed it! Liz


	3. Chapter 3

To Hear Your Voice  
Chapter 3

After sitting and waiting to hear news on the blonde member of Team 7, a doctor finally made his towards them with a grim look on his face. The small group knew then that whatever Naruto’s injuries were, they didn’t bode well for Naruto or his career as a ninja.

“I assume that you are waiting on news for Naruto Uzumaki?” The doctor asked. Iruka nodded.

“How is he?” he asked, worrying filling him for the boy that he had come to love as his own brother.

“Not good, I’m afraid” the doctor replied, before sitting down in the chair across from the group. “Whatever he went through, someone must have had some experience with medical jutsu. His body was put through a lot of stress, so its safe to assume that he was likely tortured.” 

“What about his injuries?” Iruka asked, his heart breaking knowing that Naruto had suffered alone.

“His heart has been damaged, but healed enough that it wouldn’t explode if he got stressed. That could change however, if there is too much stress. He also has a severe concussion, and we’ve done scans, he has a pretty severe brain bleed. We will be taking Mr. Uzumaki into surgery to repair that. Also I need to point out that whomever done this, damaged his chakra points to the point that they can’t be fixed. I don’t believe that Naruto will ever be able to draw chakra the way he had before. I think it needless to say that Naruto’s career as a ninja is over.”

“It can’t be!” Sasuke shouted unable to hold his panic in. “He still has to become Hokage.”

“That’s just a dream now.” The doctor said sadly. “I would think that you would be grateful that he was even left alive after everything his body was put through.” Sasuke scowled at the man. 

“Naruto will find some way to overcome these issues. He always beats the odds.” Sasuke said. He looked down when he felt a hand on his arm, Sakura looked up at him with teary eyes.

“I don’t think there is a way to beat being completely deaf.” The doctor remarked. 

 

“What are you talking about?” Iruka asked. Could that be the reason Naruto hadn’t acknowledged anything he’d said?

“Some of the nurses tried asking him about what happened.” The doctor said slowly. “Naruto didn’t respond to anything that was asked. Which leads me to believe that he has somehow gone deaf.”

“How?” Iruka asked. “How could he have gone completely deaf?”

“His head injury was severe enough to cause it.” The doctor replied.

“Will his hearing come back?” Iruka asked, his chest hurting even more for the teen.

“Its doubtful.” The doctor replied. “and it’s not really anything we can fix. Medical science hasn’t caught up with those types of injuries yet.”

“He’s going to be heartbroken.” Iruka murmured, closing his eyes and allowing a few tears to fall. “Not only does he have to deal with the loss of his career and his dream, but the loss of his hearing as well. How the hell is he going to be able to deal with all of that.”

“We’ll help him.” Sakura said softly, barely able to stifle her sobs. She had never felt so guilty in her life, she had treated him like shit right before this had happened. What she wouldn’t do to be able to go back and change the way she had treated him then. But of course that wasn’t possible, the only thing they could do now was to help Naruto learn to live with his new disabilities.

“How did he end up like this?” Iruka wondered. “How was he fine one minute and the next he’s no longer able to be a ninja? It isn’t fair. When can we see him?” Iruka asked, not wanting Naruto to be alone.

“He’s in surgery for the brain bleed right now.” The doctor said. “If all goes well he should be out in a couple of hours.” Iruka nodded. He wasn’t going to leave the hospital until Naruto was able to go home. Speaking of going home, would Naruto be able to return to his apartment when there were still villagers that wished to see him dead. If he couldn’t even mold chakra, he was pretty much defenseless, and not being able to hear them coming wouldn’t help matters either. If that was the case, Iruka was going to do what he should have done a long time ago, and take Naruto home to live with him. Naruto would probably see it as having his freedom taken away, but Iruka saw it as a way to keep someone else from grabbing Naruto and trying to murder him again. 

“Let us know when he’s out.” Kakashi informed the doctor, still stunned by all that he had just heard. How had Naruto managed to get himself in this mess? The better question was how had someone managed to get into Konoha and sneak Naruto out of it without anyone knowing about it? To Kakashi that sounded like there was some inside involvement. Who could want to do this to Naruto, to make sure that he never achieved his dream of becoming Hokage? Kakashi knew there were several villagers that believed that Naruto should never have been allowed to become a ninja, but Kakashi didn’t think they were the ones responsible for doing this.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t have better news for you.” The doctor told small, solemn group. “I wish that it didn’t have to end this way.”

“Just let us know when he’s out of surgery.” Kakashi said, standing up. He wanted to get to the bottom of this, the fact that someone knew how to completely seal off the nine tails chakra to keep it from mixing with Naruto’s bothered Kakashi. There weren’t that many people around Konoha that were that good with seals. Even now one person came to mind, but Kakashi wasn’t sure why this person would have done such a thing. Sure he was power hungry, but where did kidnapping the Jinchuuriki come into play for him? What was the importance of that? Kakashi scowled, he was going to have to talk to Lord Third about this situation. Because if it was the person that Kakashi thought it was, that didn’t bode well for Konoha at all.

A few hours later a nurse approached the group, two of the members were staring at the floor, while another was staring at the wall and the last member staring out the window, with his hands shoved into his pockets, looking worried and upset.

“Uzumaki Naruto is out of surgery and is now in recovery.” she told them. “He came through it well enough and we were able to stop the bleed in his brain. He’s going to need some peace and quite to recover.”

“If he can’t hear, he’s going to get all the quite that he needs.” Sasuke muttered bitterly, raising his eyes from the floor. It angered him that someone had ruined Naruto’s career and dream just because they could. Maybe now would be a good time for Sasuke to focus his new dream on catching whomever had done this to Naruto.

“Sasuke!” Sakura said shocked at the words that had come out of his mouth. She knew he was upset, but he could have worded that sentence a little differently.

“It’s true.” Sasuke said closing his eyes for a moment. “I can’t imagine what he’s going to be feeling when he wakes up.”

“Probably pretty confused.” Iruka said, “and no doubt angry. I wonder if he will bother telling us who done this to him?”

“Why would he not? They destroyed his career. Why he would not want to make sure that they pay for what they done?” Sasuke asked.

“Because not everyone is like you and has vengeance on their mind.” Kakashi pointed out. “Naruto has never wished ill of anyone who has treated him badly.”

“The difference between treating him badly and being tortured is completely different.” Sasuke remarked. “Kicking him out of restaurant or store is a little different from what he went through with whomever had him.”

“Sasuke does have a point.” Iruka said. “besides arguing about it isn’t going to change anything for Naruto right now. I guess we can all find some way to help him through the difficulties.” Standing, Iruka decided he wanted to go check on Naruto.

“I’m not sure how much longer the visiting hours are.” Iruka said. “but I would rather spend them with him than discussing something that no longer has any relevance to the situation.” Iruka just wanted to let Naruto know that he wasn’t alone, that Iruka would do anything in his power to help him. 

“I think for the time being we can all band together to help him.” Kakashi said, standing and following Iruka down the hallway Sasuke and Sakura following them, towards the elevators that would take them to the surgery floor. 

A few minutes later they entered Naruto’s room, to find the blonde boy still sleeping. His head was wrapped in bandages, a small portion on side shaved and stitched. It was clearly where they had done in to fix the bleed in his brain. They watch silently as Naruto’s chest rose up and down slowly, giving them the comfort that the boy was still with them.   
Iruka reached down and gently ran a finger down Naruto’s cheek, grateful that some warmth had seeped back into Naruto’s skin. It hurt Iruka knowing the things that he did about Naruto, that his career as a ninja was over and he would no longer have the ability to go out of the village on missions to get away from those that sought to bring harm to him. Of course, Iruka wouldn’t be letting the boy out of his sight anymore. 

“I’m sorry sweet boy.” Iruka murmured bending down and pressing his lips to Naruto’s forehead. “you don’t deserve any of this. I know you can’t hear me, but know this you aren’t alone.”

“He’s going to be okay,” Kakashi murmured almost as if he was reminding himself that his student was still alive. That he would pull through the night. The external injuries weren’t bad, it was what had happened to Naruto internally that had the room worried. Would Naruto’s heart recover from what it had been put through or would something happen and his heart explode? 

Sasuke sat down in the chair beside Naruto’s bed, leaning forward he placed his head in his hands. He didn’t like seeing Naruto like that, but at the same time was relieved to know that his teammate was going to live. He wondered what Naruto would do now that he was left with next to no options, would he somehow be able to make a comeback from this? Sasuke hoped so, as much as Naruto annoyed him, Sasuke hadn’t wanted to see something like this happen. 

A little while later, Sasuke’s eyes were glued to Naruto’s face, hoping that the blonde boy would regain consciousness before visiting hours were over. Sure, enough Sasuke watched as Naruto opened his eyes, the blue orbs filled with confusion as he looked at them. 

“Sasuke, what happened?” Naruto asked unaware of how his voice came out sounding more grainy and rough than it used to. Frowning, Sasuke looked up at Iruka unsure of how to answer Naruto in a way that Naruto would understand. Since the kid couldn’t hear, communicating was going to be a problem. Iruka frowned, before turning and reaching for the clipboard that was behind him on the counter. An idea formed in his head and grabbed the clipboard and flipped the form over to the blank side of the sheet before handing it to Sasuke.   
“We don’t know exactly what happened, except that you were taken.” Sasuke wrote out holding it up for Naruto to read.

“Why can’t I hear? And why isn’t nine tails healing me?” Naruto asked.

“Due to a severe head injury you’ve lost your hearing.” Sasuke wrote, not liking the way it sounded on the paper. “And as for Nine Tails, we believe whomever had you somehow altered the seal to keep you from gaining access to the nine tails chakra.” Naruto’s eyes filled with tears as he read what Sasuke had written. None of that made sense to Naruto, how could he have been taken and why didn’t he remember? He couldn’t remember anything other than going through some excruciating pain.

“What does that mean for me being a ninja?” Naruto asked. Looking over at Iruka, hoping that he would have some better news than Sasuke did. Sasuke handed the clipboard over to Iruka who quickly wrote down his reply and slowly holding it up for Naruto to read. The blonde boy burst into tears and rolled over onto his stomach, so that he wouldn’t have to see the words that felt like they had destroyed his world. What did he have to live for if he couldn’t be a ninja anymore.  
Feeling a hand on the back of his head, rubbing gentle circles into his skin, Naruto looked up and was surprised to find Sasuke staring at him with a concerned gaze, his hand resting on Naruto’s head. Naruto frowned at him, but Sasuke kept his hand there, offering what little comfort that he was able. He couldn’t imagine how Naruto was feeling, knowing that his life was now completely different than it had been only 24 hours ago. Sasuke reached for Naruto’s hand and spelled out the words “I’m sorry.” across his palm. Naruto frowned at him before laying his head back down on his pillow. He didn’t think it was possible to feel as confused as he did then? How could his world just come to an end like that? Was there a point to even living anymore if he couldn’t be a ninja and become the Hokage like he had always planned on.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Liz (Does splitting it up like that make it easier to read?)


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